The abbreviation FDGB stands for Freier Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund. Between 1946 and 1949, it was the umbrella organisation of the trade unions in the Soviet-occupied zone of Germany, and until 1990, the German Democratic Republic, the GDR.

The competitions organised by the FDGB were held across numerous sporting disciplines. In football, it was the national cup competition, comparable to that of the DFB (German FA) in the west. The winner, or the runner-up if the league champion took the trophy, played in the European Cup Winners’ Cup from 1960 onwards. The tournament existed up until 1999 before it was merged with the UEFA Cup.

Following the end of the Second World War, Allied occupation forced the dissolution of all sports organisations in Germany. It was then tasked to municipal organisations to take care of any sport-related business. In the Soviet zone, from 1948 onwards, the FDGB assumed substantial responsibility for organising and safeguarding of sport activities. So in accordance with the political spirit of the time, the organisation of sport — at least from a production standpoint — was aligned with the now proclaimed Democratic Sports Movement.

Newly-formed ‘workers’ sports clubs became the basis for this, which were known as BSGen. Football and other sports clubs were published later. The political-ideological orientation of the FDGB, alongside the policy of Germany’s state-supporting Socialist Unity Party (SED), was essential. There was no independent trade union movement in the GDR.

In 1949, the first FDGB final was played out — the trophy donated the year before by the organisation. It’s an enormous bronze statue, weighing 37 kilograms and stands at 96 centimetres high. With a strong, ormented base, the trophy itself has three standing people, symbolising a worker, member of the establishment and from their ranks, a football player.

In keeping with the renunciation of middle-class sports in the Soviet-occupied zone, the Berlin metal sculptor Hans Hechtel used a new visual theme for this trophy and didn’t go for the traditional design of a cup with handles. Until 1973, the trophy was presented 23 times, before the FDGB commissioned a new design, that changed a further three times until the end of the GDR.